12-06-2025
Algae identified that gave a local shrimper trouble
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Rocky Magwood, a fourth-generation shrimper on Shem Creek, faced a new challenge on the opening day of shrimp season: a mysterious sea grass. Biologists have since identified it.
Shrimp trawling season began June 2 in the Lowcountry, and Magwood told News 2 that he could only drag his shrimp nets for ten minutes before they were clogged with this sea grass, leaving him to catch only 15 shrimp that day.
Biologists with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) got samples of the grass and identified it as a type of red algae, likely belonging to the genus Polysiphonia.
Typically, this kind of algae is seen further north and offshore on rocky seafloors, according to biologists at SCDNR.
They also suspect that recent storms may have dislodged large quantities of the algae and pushed it into South Carolina coastal waters.
According to the biologists, this type of algae is not harmful, but is more of a nuisance, as local shrimpers expressed. The good news: this kind of algae is not here to stay. Ocean currents should disperse it.
This type of red algae has not completely vanished from Lowcountry waters. 'We are experiencing it in certain places, but it has lightened up a lot. You can work around Charleston now, it's in the channel now, and in front of the inlets, it's not as thick as it was,' said Magwood.
According to Magwood, this is a win because shrimpers are now able to return to the waters that they normally work in. Magwood expressed, 'We are back in our areas around home now.'
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